


Too Much Too Little

by FitzTragedy, LilShitWayne



Series: Tales of a Revolution [1]
Category: Fate: The Winx Saga (TV)
Genre: Character Death, Emotional Whump, F/M, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Rivusa
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-14 09:01:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,371
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29416062
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FitzTragedy/pseuds/FitzTragedy, https://archiveofourown.org/users/LilShitWayne/pseuds/LilShitWayne
Summary: What if Sam died instead of surviving the Burned Ones' attack? What if Riven was there instead of helping Beatrix?
Relationships: Musa/Riven (Winx Club)
Series: Tales of a Revolution [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2160954
Comments: 7
Kudos: 142





	Too Much Too Little

The crazy part about her powers is trying to figure out what is others and what is her. When Terra is around and all she feels is overwhelming, disgusting self consciousness, Musa is suddenly reminded of herself when she was 13, feeling like a crazy person absorbing everyone's energy all the time. Before she found out music. 

When she's around Bloom, she's filled with rage, but also this burning desire to learn, to be alive... It's almost addicting, to be quite honest. 

When she's holding hands with her first crush and he's dead, what do you feel? 

For once her powers seem to have stopped. She couldn't feel Terra's overwhelming grief, not their father's guilt and panic. Nope. None of it. 

All she felt was nothing.

Sam's hand was cold and Musa was weak on her feet and there was so much blood everywhere. Terra was crying out loud, but she was frozen on the spot. 

Her knees gave in, but suddenly someone was holding her arms. Strong hands squeezing her tightly enough to leave a mark, supporting most of her weight. 

"Fuck me", Riven grunted. He had been the closest one when she collapsed and he couldn't let her go now, not on her ass in the middle of the crowded floor with people running everywhere. 

He looked around, to Terra and then his eyes landed on Sam's pale face and he pressed his lips together in a thin line. He wasn't getting any help from them, not right now.

"C'mon, don't pass out or I'm dropping you" He warned, but it was an empty threat. Musa was ridiculously light anyway and he moved a hand from her arm to her waist, hooking his finger on the belt loops of her jeans. 

He dragged her out of the main room, away from the crying, yelling people and put Musa sitting down on a hallway, back straight against a wall. 

"Uh... Hello?" Riven snapped his fingers before her face, "anyone there?"

She blinked a few times, and slowly lifted her eyes up to look at him. Riven frowned, shifting a bit on his feet so he wasn't blocking the light, and finally getting a good look on her face "Oh, fuck it's you" He groaned, glaring at her "Don't you dare get in my head- You're fine now, right?" He paused for a second and when she didn't answer he nodded "Great" He said, getting up.

He stood awkwardly in front of her, shifting his weight from one feet to another and shoving his hands on the pockets of his jacket. He wanted to go elsewhere, but the last thing he needed, after all the trouble he had caused - helped, helped cause. It wasn't entirely his fault - was to be yelled at by abandoning some traumatized fairy to die. 

Musa was still looking straight at him and he felt uneasy, ready to bolt, "I said stay out of my head."

She blinked again and then shifted her eyes back to the room. She could faintly see Terra and her father hugging in the middle of the crowd. Musa's eyes shifted to purple and she felt it again. She felt cold and lonely and just empty.

"No" She whispered to herself, shaking her head, shifting her eyes to the ground before her and covering her ears.

"Seriously?" Riven groaned, falling to his knees and putting a hand on each shoulder of her. He shook her vehemently, "hEY!"

Musa looked at him and he raised his eyebrows, "Don't go there, okay? Stay here with me." 

"What..?" she said, slowly, but her tone was watery and confused at the end, "go where- What?"

"Wherever inside your head you're going. Don't go there. Stay here." 

Musa shook her head, still confused, still falling backwards into numbness, but then she felt it. Almost like a hot wave coming from Riven, an overwhelming surge of feelings. 

Panic, confusion, guilt, anger, amusement? Jealousy, bitterness, lust-

Everything and anything, mixed in a powerful blown directed straight at her.

Her eyes shone purple and Riven let go of her shoulders, leaning back a bit "Stay here but not inside my head, get out. I don't want anyone hearing my thoughts" He scoffed

"I can't," She said quietly, still absorbing his feelings. It was like they were giving her strength, power. She felt alive again.

"Yeah, you can, just get out. Now."

"I can't read your thoughts, it's not how it works"

"Really?" he sounded shocked, but then he wrinkled his nose, "I don't care, stay out of my head."

"No, please" Musa said quietly, reaching over and squeezing his wrist, "it's helping."

"My-my emotions are helping?" he let out a scoff, "Alright, freaky... How?"

"I just- you feel so much. It's like white noise, cancels the silence-" she glanced briefly to the atrium, where Sam's body laid, "but helps me focus."

Riven seemed uncomfortable, but he followed her gaze and eventually sighed "Fine"

He turned and sat down across from her on the hallway floor and leaned his head back on the stone wall "How does it work, then?"

"It's... It's like I'm a mirror. I mirror the feelings around me, so if you're feeling sad..."

"Then you're feeling sad? Sounds like your power sucks"

"Sometimes it does" She nodded, taking a deep breath "But if I'm sad and someone around me is happy then it doesn't suck"

"And it's like a proximity thing? Or you can focus on someone and steal their feelings?" Riven quirked his head, curious now, "Can you manipulate my emotions? Or take them?"

Musa frowned. She could tell he was interested, curious, eager for an answer, but there was something else behind his emotions... Hope? Sadness? She couldn't really tell. She opened her mouth to say something but then the front doors burst open.

"It's over!" Someone yelled. From her position Musa couldn't see exactly what was happening, but there was a sudden burst of happiness and relief. She could see the crowd rushing to near the door, leaving Terra, her father and Sam's body behind. And the nothingness appeared again.

Her father picked up Sam, carrying him away from the room. Terra looked up, finding Musa's eyes and starting to cry again, before turning around and following her dad out. Musa could feel it. All of it. All the grief and sadness and fear and it made her start crying too.

Riven seemed like he had been stricken by lightning. He faltered, tried to produce a sentence but failed. Eventually he let out a deep sigh and scooted across the hallway, putting an unsure hand on her shoulder, then moving it to rub her back. 

"Okay, okay.... Are these- Are these happy tears? Everyone's happy..." he looked around in confusion

She shook her head no, wiping the tears from her face and trying to get her shit together but they just kept coming. She turned to him and suddenly buried her face on his chest, curling up by his side.

"Okay...." He dragged the word, unsure of what to do and patting the top of her head, "alright. Uhm-"

"Riven?"

"Yeah?"

"Shut up."

He let out a sigh of relief and shut up, leaning back against the wall while petting her hair. Everything else he could deal with later.

He didn't know how long it passed before the crowd died down the celebrations and he heard footsteps approach. He saw their feet first, before looking up and internally groaning.

"Riven?" Stella frowned and Bloom, right beside her, looked at them, both their eyes shifting to the girl on his arms.

"Musa!" Bloom gasped, kneeling down and putting a hand on her friend's back "What happened?!"

Musa didn't answer, so Riven took it on his hands to solve the awkward situation. 

He gestured vaguely toward the atrium, "Sam, uh... Didn't make it." 

Stella's eyes got huge and she looked around, searching for Terra no doubt. Bloom pulled Musa to her, wrapping her arms around the younger girl and planting kisses on top of her head. 

"Okay, okay... Let's get you out of here..."

Musa let herself be pulled up and leaned against Bloom, both girls walking towards the dorms. Stella watched them walk for a second, before turning to Riven, raising her eyebrows.

"Really, Riven? Taking advantage of a girl in grief?"

"Advantage?" He glared at her, "Unlike your toxic little relationship with Skye, I was here solely for her benefit. This was completely selfless." 

Stella rolled her eyes, "You wouldn't know selfless if it danced in front of your eyes naked. Stay away from Musa."

"Don't worry, princess. I'm done with girl drama anyway." He scoffed, getting up and taking his flask from his pocket as he walked away.

He walked only a couple feet more, since soon he was pretty much face to face with the huge stairwell that led to the dorms. 

Riven leaned on a wall, watching as Stella caught up with Bloom and wrapped her arms around Musa too, whispering sweet nothings to her. 

He wondered if it would be too much, too. If she would break down crying any second, overwhelmed by the grief both her friends were feeling or if she would lean into them the same way she had been leaning into him. 

She smelt like lilac and it was all over his jacket now. 

Riven breathed in, then let out a groan and stripped the jacket, throwing it over his arm. 

He hoped his thoughts, no his emotions had granted her some peace of mind. Suddenly a new emotion overtook him and he glanced up, worried that she was somehow in his head again. The three girls still had their backs turned, still moving. 

He pursed his lips and tried to push away the overwhelming gratitude he was feeling, only to realize it wasn't Musa projecting it on him. It was him.

* * *

Musa was trying so hard to fall asleep, to rest and calm down, but every time she closed her eyes she felt it again, like it was haunting her, the nothingness.

Taking her headphones off wasn't an option either. When she did she could feel all the girls in the apartment, their emotions seemed amplified. Terra was the worst, laying down so close to her and feeling so much. Musa not only had to deal with her own grief, but her friend's too. She didn't know where one ended and the other began. It was all either too much or too little and it was driving her insane.

She slowly got up, grabbing her coat and shoes by her bed and quietly walking to the door of the bedroom, hoping Terra wouldn't notice, and if she did, the girl didn't say anything. Musa made her way out of the apartment and down the halls and stairs of the castle, towards the courtyard. She breathed in the fresh air, listening to the sounds of nature. She looked at the trees, trying to focus and reach with her mind and then smiling. Animals were always more peaceful than humans.

"How are you?" Riven asked, appearing next to her and almost making her jump out of her skin. How hadn't she seen him coming? How? 

"I'm fine" Musa pulled her coat tighter around her body, looking at him, puzzled, "why.... Why can't I feel anything from you?" 

Riven shrugged, "I don't know..." he raised a cigarette toward her, "want a hit?" 

Then she realized. He was high off his ass.

She thought about it for a second, before taking the cigarette from him and taking a hit. She closed her eyes, breathed in and then slowly blew the smoke out. When she opened her eyes Riven was looking at her with eyes wide.

"You... Actually did it..."

"Yeah" She shrugged, handing the cig back to him "Don't look so surprised."

"It's not your first time?"

Musa shook her head "I've tried anything to turn my powers off."

"Does this help?" He asked, taking a hit himself.

"Makes it less effective, but doesn't shut it off..."

"So you're always turned on?" he teased her, with a stupid smirk and she glared at him. Riven sobered up quickly. 

"No, I'm serious. Even when you sleep? Are you always tuned in?" 

"Always. I get nightmares if you're feeling horrible around me when I'm asleep" Musa cringed. After her mom died, she hadn't had a decent night of sleep for months.

"Did you find a way to shut it off?" He handed the cigarette back to her and she took it

"Music" She shrugged "But turns out people think it's rude if you wear headphones around them."

Riven rolled his eyes "And they don't think it's rude that you know of every emotion they have?"

"They either don't know, don't care or don't mind..."

"Oh they don't mind?" He snorted, letting out an ugly laugh and Musa raised her eyebrows, amused by his reaction. 

"Yes..."

"Tell them to fuck off, Musa. Better yet, say you'll get in their head. People are going to start to think it's really polite of you to wear your headphones."

"Is that what you do? Tell them to fuck off so they won't get too close?"

He squinted at her, taking the cigarette from her hand "I thought you couldn't feel anything from me right now."

"I've been reading people's emotions my whole life. I don't need to get in your head to know how you feel."

"Well, don't do that" He wrinkled his nose at her and moved a step backwards, "I'll keep all my feelings right here-" he pointed to the center of his chest, "and then one day I'll die." 

It was her turn to ugly laugh, rushing to cover her face as she snorted, "didn't peg you for the type to watch stand-up."

"I'm a box of surprises."

"Bet you are" She said, smiling at him and making him smile back "I... I should go back" She said, clearing her throat and gesturing back to the castle. He nodded, his smile faltering a bit when she turned around and then he looked down, kicking the grass "Riven?" Musa called out, turning back to him and making him look up again "Thank you."


End file.
